Category: Olivier Giroud

Antonio Conte’s caution may mask an acceptance that taking risks is the way to secure a place in the Champions League quarter-finalsAntonio Conte may just have been being painfully realistic but his body language at Camp Nou came across as distinctly d…

Live updates of all the latest football transfer newsGiroud to join Chelsea and unlock Aubameyang’s Arsenal transferLeicester tell Man City Mahrez deal will take ‘mind-blowing’ offerEmail Ed with any tip-offs or tweet: @ed_aarons 9.34am GMT It was only…

• Michy Batshuayi set for Dortmund loan• Frenchman eyeing more starts with championsOlivier Giroud is primed to join Chelsea from Arsenal in a deal worth £17.5m, which will pave the way for Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang to move from Borussia Dortmund to Ar…

• Giroud will miss Saturday’s match against Tottenham with a minor injury• Manager dismisses Lee Dixon’s comments on team’s lack of toughnessArsène Wenger says his Arsenal side “have no fear” before this weekend’s north London derby despite falling beh…

Antoine Griezmann, Olivier Giroud and Alexandre Lacazette scored for France in the international break – and Kylian Mbappé was their standout playerBy Adam White and Eric Devin for Get French Football NewsIt is difficult to draw too many conclusions fr…

Antoine Griezmann, Olivier Giroud and Alexandre Lacazette scored for France in the international break – and Kylian Mbappé was their standout playerBy Adam White and Eric Devin for Get French Football NewsIt is difficult to draw too many conclusions fr…

• Striker was linked with a move away from club in the summer• ‘It was a relief he decided to stay,’ says manager after 4-3 defeat of Leicester

Arsène Wenger expressed his relief that Olivier Giroud, widely considered this summer to be either on the move or a player destined to be not much more than a supersub, remains very much at the heart of life at Arsenal.

The Frenchman’s thunderous header completed a thrilling comeback for Arsenal on the opening day of the season, and the idea that any suitors might lure Giroud away was met by “a determined no” from Wenger. “He’s fantastic,” the manager added. Giroud had been linked with an exit during the summer, and Wenger admitted he considered allowing his most authentic target man to leave but the 30-year-old resisted the idea.

The winger’s first goal of the game was a wondrous 25-yard effort but his second was even better. Anthony Knockaert, now of Brighton and Hove Albion, nonchalantly flicked the ball past a hapless Alex Smithies in the Huddersfield goal from Paul Konchesky’s cross from the left.

The winger’s first goal of the game was a wondrous 25-yard effort but his second was even better. Anthony Knockaert, now of Brighton and Hove Albion, nonchalantly flicked the ball past a hapless Alex Smithies in the Huddersfield goal from Paul Konchesky’s cross from the left.

The winger’s first goal of the game was a wondrous 25-yard effort but his second was even better. Anthony Knockaert, now of Brighton and Hove Albion, nonchalantly flicked the ball past a hapless Alex Smithies in the Huddersfield goal from Paul Konchesky’s cross from the left.

The Arsenal striker’s acrobatic opening goal against Crystal Palace will live long in the memory and is likely to be the highlight of his career

On a sodden, cold and otherwise underpowered afternoon at the Emirates Stadium Olivier Giroud provided an unforgettable moment of illumination. The Frenchman has found himself down the pecking order in recent months, demoted to second choice as collateral damage to Alex Sánchez’s reinvention as a spiky central striker. One thing does seem certain, though. Whatever direction Giroud’s strangely divisive five-year Arsenal career takes from here, however the club’s hotly-contested modern history ends up remembering him, he is unlikely to have a better moment, in isolation, than the opening goal here. Olivier, old boy, we’ll always have Palace.

What are we calling it then? A Henrikh? A studs-up, reach-back semi-scorpion? Perhaps the greatest no-look donkey-kick breakaway volley you’re likely to see outside the pixelated world of early 1990s arcade machines? Certainly Henrikh Mkhitaryan does seem have been on to something with his discovery of the sole-of-the-boot, reach-around volley.

Giroud set Arsenal on their way to victory in the 17th minute, when he flicked an Alexis Sánchez cross, which was one yard behind him, with his left heel over his own head and into Wayne Hennessey’s net off the underside of the crossbar. He had been about 12 yards out at the point of the connection.

It was the sort of move that is more routinely associated with the skill buttons on the PlayStation. But when Olivier Giroud blurred the line between the virtually real and the gloriously tangible, he did more than set Arsenal on their way to victory over Crystal Palace. He lit up the Emirates Stadium and provided a memory for years to come.

Giroud’s 17th-minute opener recalled the finish of Henrikh Mkhitaryan for Manchester United against Sunderland on Boxing Day. There were shades of a scorpion kick, albeit with only one leg; a rainbow flick or whatever else the gamers want to call it.

• I want to carry on. But we have to see. I need more time of games’• Arsène Wenger ‘explained to me why I hadn’t played too much’

Olivier Giroud says he has yet to sign a contract extension at Arsenal but hinted he could be willing to commit his future to the club, despite spending the majority of the season playing second fiddle to Alexis Sánchez.

Arsenal manager Arsène Wenger praises Olivier Giroud after the striker scored a late winner against West Brom on Boxing Day. Speaking at a news conference after the Premier League game at the Emirates Stadium, Wenger says he understands that Giroud may be frustrated with his lack of starts for Arsenal but the two enjoy an honest relationship

Olivier Giroud hopes to stake a claim for greater involvement at Arsenal by impressing on his first start of the season against Ludogorets Razgrad on Tuesday. The France international is convinced his “turn will come” after a slow start to his campaign.

The striker returned to training late after helping France reach the final of Euro 2016 and, after his cameo against Paris Saint-Germain at Parc des Princes was curtailed by a red card, saw his progress further disrupted by a niggling toe injury aggravated on international duty. Giroud came off the bench at Sunderland to score with his first two touches in Saturday’s 4-1 victory – his first goals of the season – and is expected to start against the Bulgarians at the Vasil Levski stadium as Arsenal seek to extend their involvement in the competition beyond Christmas for a 17th consecutive season.